Today's Gospel in Art - It was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it

The Last Supper, by Leonardo Da Vinci, Fresco at Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, © Wikimedia

Gospel of 25th September 2021 - Luke 9:43-45

At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, 'For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: "The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men."' But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said.

Reflection on the Fresco Painting

People love finding secret codes or hidden meanings in art. Artists throughout the ages often put hidden messages in their works which few people would notice or decipher. I recently came across an article which mentioned Da Vinci's Last Supper. We all know how it is filled with symbolism, but it was the first time I had read that there is a song hidden in the painting. An Italian musician discovered that, when he lined up the bread rolls on the table and the hands of the Apostles on a standard musical staff, they worked as musical notes. Whilst at first one can be skeptical, it is nevertheless worth listening to the sound it produces. Click here to listen to the musical sound on YouTube.

Today's Gospel reading says about the disciples that 'it was hidden from them so that they should not see the meaning of it'. At times, what Jesus was telling them did not make sense to them. What Jesus is telling us in today's reading is that sometimes we need to reflect on things at a deeper level and actually think about the things that we don't understand… and there is so much we don't understand! Trying to reflect more deeply on the Gospel readings every day will help us to expand our minds and our hearts. Most of us 'hear' what God is saying every day in the Gospels, but often we don't fully understand. And so Jesus is prompting us to keep searching, to keep asking, to keep praying, to keep trying to understand… Each time we do this, a little bit more will be revealed and unveiled to us… the hidden will become more and more visible.

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/940
Christian Art - www.christian.art/